Download What is Human Nature?

Philosophy 1010
Class #4
Title:
Introduction to Philosophy
Instructor:
Paul Dickey
E-mail Address: [email protected]
Hand in Movie Essay & Argument
Evaluations (both from
Syllabus Quiz & #1 In-class
Essay.
Hand out Logic Study Guide &
Discuss Logic Homework
Assignment
Pop Quiz
No class next week.
Happy Holiday!
Reading Assignment for 7/11:
Velasquez, Philosophy: A Text With Readings Chapter 2., pp
69-79.
Homework Assignment for 7/11:
1)
Practice evaluating EVIDENCE in day-to-day
arguments or judgments. Come to class prepared to
discuss a particular example.
2)
Watch the video clips “Socrates on Self-Confidence”
on the QUIA page.
3)
Write a two-page “play” as a Socratic Dialogue
discussing one of the questions you proposed in
your Class #2 writing assignment. Use two
characters, you and Socrates. Illustrate the
principles of the Socratic Method in your play.
4 Steps to Evaluating an Argument
1.
Be sure you understand the argument. What
is the claim? What are the premises for the
claim?
2.
Determine if the argument is deductive or
inductive and apply the appropriate test for
validity or strong support.
3.
Identify and weed out any logical fallacies,
rhetoric, subjectivity, or irrelevancies. Clarify
any vagueness or ambiguity.
4.
Examine the truth of the premises. If the
argument is inductive, evaluate the evidence.
Class Review of Logic Assignment
.
•
If it is February 14 then it is St. Valentine's Day. It
is St. Valentine's Day. Therefore, it must be
February 14.
•
If I am a senior then I will graduate soon. I am a
senior, so I will graduate soon.
3.
If you haven't tried our Claussen's Bread, you
simply must. It's the best bread in town. We've been
baking it the homemade way for 50 years. And it's
good for you because it's vitamin-enriched.
Class Review of Logic Assignment, cont.
4.
I don't care how many architecture awards
Harry has won. He simply has no taste. His
building on Main Street reminds me of a
matchbox, and the house he designed for the
Smiths is ugly.
5.
You are not a Christian. Either you are a
Christian or you are an atheist, so you are an
atheist. (Be careful here, there is an argument
within an argument)
6.
The Husker football team didn’t play as well
last year as they should have. The Capital One
Bowl sucks.
.
Now, what kind of a fallacy is this?
The Naturalistic Fallacy
•
This fallacy occurs when someone attempts to
derive a normative statement (what you “ought” to
do) from a descriptive statement (what “is” the
case).
For example, a student argues that the instructor
should excuse him from taking the mid-term
exam because he was sick.
Another example would be argue that the U.S.
military should remain in Iraq because they are
already there.
Another example could be to argue that simply
because God exists, you should act morally.
Ten Minute Break!
Chapter 2
On Human Nature: A Metaphysical Study
What is it to be Human? What is a Person?
What is a Self? What is a Soul? What is a
Person Worth?
In reviewing the different attempts to
answer philosophical questions such
as these, please note carefully:
1)
Likely each view can give us additional or new
insight into the questions and potential answers
to the questions and thus provides us a richer
understanding of human nature, BUT
2)
No answer will likely give us a complete and/or
satisfactory answer that will supplant all the other
views.
3)
In short, all views proposed to answer a
philosophical question should be respected but
examined aggressively. We should not rush
either to reject them or to accept them.
The Traditional Western View
• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes
Four Basic Claims:
1)
That the self is conscious (has
reason) and has a purpose
2)
That the self is distinct from the
body, but somehow is related.
3)
That the self endures through time.
4)
That the self has an independent
existence from other selves
The Traditional Western View
The Traditional Western View of Human
Nature is the one most commonly held in our
culture.
Yet different philosophers throughout history
have questioned and rejected every one of
the four tenets with various arguments.
Chapter 2
On Human Nature:
A Metaphysical Study
•
Video:
What is Human Nature?
The Traditional Rationalist View
(Plato)
• For Plato, humans have a nonphysical or
material soul or self in agreeing with all these
assumptions.
• Plato contends that since reason often conflicts
with our desires (or appetites) and that either of
these can conflict with our aggression, each of
these comprise one of the three main elements
of our soul (self).
• For Plato, man can choose what part of his self
rules his actions. (Free Will?) Because reason
alone can know how we ought to live, it should
rule the appetite and our aggressions.
The Traditional Rationalist View
(Aristotle)
• Aristotle (384-322 BC) mostly agreed with
Plato but went on to argue that reason can
discover the truth about man in the natural
world, and how we should act.
• Thus, Aristotle is rejecting Plato’s Allegory of
the Cave, suggesting that Plato’s world of
shadows can be known through reason.
Ah, isn’t this the basic motivation for science?
• For Aristotle, all living things and the natural
world have purpose (telos). The purpose of
man is to control desires and aggression
through reason.
The Traditional Western Religious View
(Judeo-Christian)
• “The purpose of man is to love and serve God.”
(St. Augustine – 354-430 AD)
• Although influenced by Plato, this view asserts
that humans are made in the image of God.
Man has an immaterial and immortal soul and
the ability to love and to know, in the very
manner of God.
• Augustine emphasized that humans have will
and intellect, the ability to choose between
good and evil.
• “The purpose of man is to know God through
reason.” (St. Thomas Aquinas - c. 1225 –1274)
The Traditional Western View
The Traditional Western View of Human
Nature is the one most commonly held in our
culture.
Yet different philosophers throughout history
have questioned and rejected every one of
the four tenets with various arguments.
The most radical view is perhaps the Existentialism
of Jean-Paul Sartre -- 1905 – 1980.
• “Existence precedes essence.”
• Humans are radically free. Human nature itself is
determined by a man’s choices. There is no fixed
universal human nature (or soul) prior to the
choices that an individual free man makes.
• Existentialism challenges our basic values of
western civilization that human nature in some
way is “fixed.” God does not exist.
Human, All Too Human
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxbkPCLlXII
The Traditional Western View
• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes
Four Basic Claims:
1)
That the self is conscious (has
reason) and has a purpose
2)
That the self is distinct from the body,
but somehow is related.
3)
That the self endures through time.
4)
That the self has an independent
existence from other selves
Challenges to
the Traditional Rationalist View
•
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) claimed that man
acts only to satisfy his desires. In particular, he
possesses a basic, powerful desire for
aggressiveness and sexual pleasure. Man views
others as objects.
•
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) claimed that the
man’s primary desire was for power over others.
•
Moritz Schlick (1882-1936) believed that man is
able to act only out of self-interest. Schlick
recognized the appearance of unselfish
behavior, but claimed even such behavior
occurred only because of unrecognized selfinterest.
Challenges to the Traditional Rationalist View
Feminism
•
The traditional view seems to be sexist in that it
assumes that reason is male and emotions are
female (e.g. Aristotle & Augustine) By calling for
the subjugation of emotions to reason, does the
traditional view take a gender bias?
•
Some feminist philosophers repudiate the
traditional rationalist view and reject reason as the
basis of human nature. Others agree that reason
is primary and say the view only needs to be
modified to remove gender bias and to
acknowledge that reason is gender neutral.
•
Genevieve Lloyd suggests that the issue is even
more fundamental and may be near impossible to
resolve. Read your text on page 73 carefully!! We
will discuss this passage in class next week.
II the Rationalist View Racist?
• Aristotle claimed that since barbarians
were less rational than Greeks, it was
justifiable to rule and enslave them
because they were less human.
•
Caveat Emptor: Such an assertion
does not logically follow from Plato.
The Traditional Western Religious View
• For Thomas Aquinas, however, one is not
limited in their ability to love and serve God by
differing levels of intelligence or knowledge.
• In his view of Human Nature, note that Love
and Service to God trumps Reason !!!
• Question for the class:
Does this view contradict the previously
asserted suggestion in the class that it is best
to seek truth and wisdom? Or Socrates’ view
that the unexamined life is not worth living?
Would Aquinas agree with you?
Darwinism
• Evolutionary theory claims that random
variations and natural selection make
species evolve. To many, this suggests
that humans are not unique and that
there perhaps is no special purpose to
human life.
Charles Darwin – 1809–1882
• Darwin does not himself take a
position on the question whether God
exists.